


Stress, Illness And Priorities

by SheepShit



Category: Ghost-Spider (Comics), Spider-Gwen (Comics), Spider-Woman (Comic)
Genre: Because I've never been able to write a sad ending, Burrito, Em Jay seems arrogant but she cares so much ok, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Happy Ending, I'm sorry but because the comic wrote MJ as Em Jay I have to as well, Platonic but only because Mary Jane already has a girlfriend in this universe, This is happening at the end of Spider-Girl: Ghost Spider, enjoy, thats a tag now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:55:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21846277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheepShit/pseuds/SheepShit
Summary: MJ confronts Gwen about how she has been more absent than usual. It seems a lot can be said to a person if you offer them a burrito before a discussion starts
Relationships: Gwen Stacy & Mary Jane Watson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Stress, Illness And Priorities

Gwen took a big bite out of her burrito, looked up at the redhead, and took another big bite. She chewed for a while, taking a good moment to inhale some more before commenting.

“Did you really buy me food just to interrogate me?” She quirked a blond eyebrow at Em Jay and crammed the rest of the burrito into her mouth, just in case the vocalist decided to take it back. Em Jay rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Would that really surprise you?” Gwen shrugged and Em Jay had to physically fight not saying anything rude back. Em Jay believed she was trying, she probably really was. Gwen was just infuriating. She never showed up to band practice, she always came to concerts last minute, she never answered any texts or calls. Gwen was just so well worrisome actually. 

The blonde had been popping painkillers more often than Em Jay complained about her absence. It was truly concerning. She also seemed to always be hungry, and not in some quirky shitposty way. 

Her stomach was always rumbling and her facial expression any time someone offered her food was so relieved it would have been funny with any other context. The realness of it was that Gwen seemed to be starving, not gaining any weight, no matter how much she ate. 

God, she would have seriously been worried the drummer had bulimia or some other eating disorder if she didn’t know about Gwen's powers that were most likely affecting her. And that was just it. Her friend's powers seemed to hurt her in different ways as much as they helped. Em Jay really didn’t like that. 

Em Jay was anxious, worried about how Gwen was lighting the candle at both ends. She’d let it slip in a fight between the two of them before, but she was certain it hadn’t been taken that way. After all, when she told her “You can’t be superheroing, rehearsing and working for the whole city, If you’re gonna be here, you need to be here” she was mostly angry about Gwen not prioritizing any time with them, with her. More than that, she wrote a whole fucking song about it. Em Jay would actually drink a jar of nail polish if Gwen still didn’t get the hint. 

Em Jay cared, the whole band did actually, it was just hard to have a conversation with Ms.IHaveResponsebilitiesMoreImportantThanYou about it. Em Jay was honestly a little scared. The already pale blonde was paler than usual. She seemed to hold onto walls for balance quite often too. Em Jay had even caught her attempt and fail at climbing up the wall on her way out from band practice a couple of days ago. 

So now she’s had enough of ignoring or screaming at the problem. The problem being Gwen. She wanted to at least attempt a civilized conversation about this, not wishing a repeat of the strange period where Gwen was gone for days in passing. 

She still remembered the time not long ago where Gwen was dropped off on her couch after being found in a bar alone with dirty, smelling clothes. Em Jays reaction had been to yell at her whilst Gwen har been talking to the walls, hallucinating, probably drunk out of her mind. Gloria stopped her and then yelled at her for yelling at Gwen, Em Jay then yelled at Gloria for yelling at her for yelling at Gwen and- yeah... Gwen left the apartment.

Em Jay shook her head and tried to close the discourse in her mind momentarily. She’d managed to ask Gwen one question before she got defensive and Em Jay really didn’t want her to escape the conversation by jumping out the window right then and there.

The vocalist slid her plate of a mostly intact burrito over to Gwen. For a moment it looked like she was going to object to taking it, but ultimately she nodded gratefully and started eating.

“I’m not obvious, you know” Em Jay started.

“And that doesn’t sound ominous or anything” Gwen interrupted.

Em Jay raised both recently plucked eyebrows, sending her a look. Gwen mumbled and nodded, begrudgingly letting her know to keep going.

“You take painkillers from your dad’s, mine, Betty’s and Gloria’s place.” 

Em Jay took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. 

“You stumble more than you walk, you’re always feeling hungry, more so than usual, your outfit somehow glitches-“ 

Em Jay stopped again and chewed gently at the insides of her cheeks, trying desperately to stop herself before she seriously started ranting. She meets Gwen’s eyes over her small table. They were hard to read as always, but the fact that she’d dropped the burrito on the plate for a moment was sign enough. Gwen was listening.

“You’re paler than my kitchen tiles and the bags under your eyes are heavier than Murderface.” 

Gwen let out a small snort at the comment and Em Jay took it as a good sign. Finally, she asked.

“Want to tell me what’s going on or do you want me to continue being moody at you every time you show up last minute or fail to show up?”

Gwen smiled. It wasn’t a particularly nice smile, it was grim and sympathetic. She knew her own problems were causing issues for the others as well. 

The symbiote was doing their best, but something was seriously wrong. Her look for Ms.Brook had been unsuccessful, her look for Mr. Brook in Peters universe had also been unsuccessful. All she could do now was wait and hope Peter figured out a solution.

It was stupid of Gwen to think Em Jay hadn’t noticed. As much as she liked to pretend she didn't care, she did. 

Would it really be for the better, though? Telling Em Jay she was getting sicker, telling Em Jay the pain was getting worse and the headache more frequent. Gwen wasn’t sure.

Did Em Jay not deserve her honesty, though. Did the rest of the band deserve some truth for once? Was it fair of Gwen to keep fucking up with no real explanation? She knew the answer to that.

“Well”  
Gwen started, as she rubbed around her mouth, getting rid of the juicy salsa still there.

“I’m working on a solution”

The two of them looked at each other for a moment, before Em Jay waved with her hand, signaling to keep going.

“Because I’m sick-”

“wow, I definitely didn’t know tha-”

“And the cure is being worked on in another dimension”

Em Jay massaged the bridge or her nose with her thumb and forefinger, her eyes closed. She let out a sigh before opening her eyes, looking at Gwen. The blonde shrugged back and licked her fingers clean of the salsa.

“Ok”   
The redhead paused.

“Could you like, elaborate on that?”   
She raised both her eyebrows and threw her arms to the side.

“A smart guy I trust is trying to work it out, I’ll check up on him in a week or so”  
Gwen smiled slightly at her before continuing. 

“Don’t worry about it, I’m not gonna slow down or anything. I'll keep up to schedule as best as I can”

Em Jay frowned. Her eyebrows furrowed and her lips were pursed. 

“Is this illness of yours killing your brain cells??”  
Her eyes were wide. Gwen's eyes widened back.

“What do you-”

“Gwen, I’m not angry at you because you never have time for me, I’m angry because you never have time for you”

Suddenly it got quiet in the room. 

Gwen's breath hitched. She didn’t think...

“Oh.”

“YES OH, YOU IDIOT!”

Em Jay got up from her chair and walked over to Gwen and hugged her. It was awkward with Gwen still sitting down, burrito pieces all over her face, but just what the doctor ordered.

“Promise me you’ll tell us when you need a break”

It wasn’t a question, but she answered anyway.

“I promise”

**Author's Note:**

> Mistbornhero podficed this, take a listen!  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/22968634/chapters/54906808?show_comments=true&view_full_work=false


End file.
